Former Forensic Science students, Abbie Gilliand, Lucy Drummie and Jaskiran Matharu, returned to Brooklands College in February 2019 to host a discussion session with a group of current Forensic Science students.

The Forensic Science trio discussed their journey from studying at Brooklands College to being granted their independence with the challenges of life studying at university. After an open discussion with the class, they opened up the floor to questions. Reflecting on the jump from school to college, the three former students admitted that it was a big leap yet was a stepping stone to becoming an independent adult. College formed part of the exciting transition from school to college to university, allowing them to hit key milestones along the way. This included living away from home and even learning to drive, taking to the roads and passing their driving test.

Abbie Gilliand wishes to pursue a career as a Police Constable, having decided to substitute Child Studies for Applied Science a month into her course at Brooklands. Abbie’s career prospects changed from teaching to a police officer or barrister and her Law degree will allow her to explore different avenues and industries.

Lucy Drummie came with her brother – a former Public Services student at Brooklands College – to pick up his results. Falling ill at the time of her GCSE exams, the tough experience didn’t trouble a resilient Lucy, who instead of the A Level route decided to apply to study for an Applied Science course at Brooklands College. Successful BTEC results meant that she was accepted to study Law undergraduate degree at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Lucy also admits that she still keeps in regular contact with her friends at Brooklands.

Jaskiran Matharu was unsure of her future career aspirations and mistakenly thought A-Levels were the “thing to do”. Her cousin recommended Brooklands College and soon enough she was called in for an interview, progressing from level 2 to the level 3 Applied Science course at Brooklands College. Now currently studying towards an Honours degree in speech and language therapy, she is enjoying living independently and thoroughly enjoying the course. After taking her nephew to one of his speech and language therapy classes, she fell in love with the subject after doing some research.

Abbie and Lucy are currently studying on the same Law Honours degree course at St Mary’s University in Twickenham, on the outskirts of London.

One piece of advice for students:

They all agreed on a piece of advice for students considering studying at Brooklands College, which would be to “maximize your time, take every opportunity and above all, enjoy the experience! Take on the advice of your lecturer, complete the work and stick to deadlines – this will make you prepared for university.”

Applied Science course

Jaskiran: “I was very happy with my results; I achieved three Distinction stars. We all worked very hard and relied on teamwork. Being taught everything towards the start of the year we would then have a Final Major Project (FMP) – this is where we were divided into groups. The FMP was quite difficult and was composed of six units: fire, traffic, photography, investigation, genetics and procedures there was an end assignment for each unit. In groups, we worked independently with no input from our lecturer and made a mood board, similar to what you would see in movies! For each assignment, we then had to draw conclusions from the evidence.”

Support at Brooklands College

The lecturers are fantastic. You only have to reach out and your lecturer will be very happy to sit down and work with you to break down any stumbling blocks.

From College to University

“There is so much anxiety when you come to start university. It is a stressful time, especially with looming deadlines,” admitted Abbie Gilliand. “It was reassuring in the knowledge that I had a friend to ease the transition from leaving Brooklands to university.”

Work Placements

Part of Jaskiran’s speech and language therapy degree involves completing work placements at relevant institutions to gain experience in her area. She told us that she is due to complete a one-day placement at a hospital in Surrey following her work placement at a London-based nursery.

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